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REPORT ON INDUSTRIAL AND CONTINUATION SCHOOLS 

Pittsburgh, Pa., September 22, 1914. 

The Board of Public Education. 
Directors: — 

In accordance with the authority granted by the Board, I spent a portion 
of the last vacation in an examination of the Industrial and Continuation 
Schools of Europe. 

Schools and school officials were visited in London, Liverpool, Birming- 
ham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Diisseldorf, Cologne, Munich and Eome. The out- 
break of the war made it impossible to visit schools in France and Switzer- 
land, but reports were obtained indirectly regarding them. Abundant informa- 
tion has been secured for the solution of the problem of Industrial Education 
in Pittsburgh. There is attached hereto a list of the more important publua- 
tions, all of which are now on file in my office, accessible for reference by 
the members of the Board, its Committees and others interested. 

Details regarding the work are necessarily omitted from this report. They 
will be found set forth in full in the volumes referred to, with those portions 
having special bearing on the Pittsburgh problem so marked as to be readily 
accessible. Statements of fundamentals, numerous illustrations and compara- 
tive courses of study will be found in condersed form for the use of the mem- 
bers of the Board, heads of departments and those engaged in solving the 
problem. 

I am glad to report that, in my opinion, the school system of Pittsburgh, 
when completed in accordance with the plans and specifications of the Board, 
will be unequaled as a whole by anything in the world. No evidence was 
found indicating any general superiority in the kindergarten, elementary or 
high schools in Europe over those in iVmerica. Our evening schools as at 
present organized are as a whole clearly superior to theirs. Nothing was found 
which can in any sense be considered the equivalent of our work in makinj? 
the school a social center, an institution for the service of all of the people all 
of the time. Europeans seem either not to have as yet received this conception 
of the public school as one of the fundamental institutions for" the growth and 
development of a democracy or to be unwilling to accept it. This fact is per- 
haps not surprising because almost all of the countries visited are non-demo- 
cratic in their organizations and the school systems a^e a part of a monarchal 
or semi-monarchal system of government rather than a vital element, if not 
the most vital element in the structure of a republic. 

School Houses 

Generally speaking, school houses in Europe are conspicuous by their 
absence. There are abundant castles and public buildini^s, but aside from the 
university buildings it is very seldom that the school houses are noticeable 



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among the leading buildings of a town or city, and in all the miles of travel 
only one country school house was noticed. The latest buildings in the Ger- 
man cities, in Scotland and in a few instances in England, are all exceptions 
to this general observation. These new buildings are models of modern fire- 
proof construction and compare very favorably with some of our best school 
houses. I visited a number of elementary schools which cost over $200,000.00 
each, which, considering the difference in cost of labor and material, would 
probably equal $350,000.00 each here. In equipment the schools are all sim- 
pler and less costly than ours. 

The Child Who Works 

There is one particular, however, in which the schools, especially those of 
Germany, are clearly superior to ours, namely, their method of training the 
child from 14 to 18 years of age who expects to go to work. Nothing can 
present a sharper contrast than the educational methods of Germany and 
England. 

Errors made by an entire nation are both costly and tragic. England has 
been paying a costly penalty for a fundamental mistake in her educational 
system, the error of the failure to provide commercial and industrial education 
for her people. The commercial supremacy of. England has been, in recent 
years, slowly but surely undermined by Germany. The commercial loss on 
England 's part and the gain on the part of Germany was the inevitable out- 
come of the system of public education adopted and in use in the two countries. 

The English papers are full of comments upon England's opportunity to 
regain her lost trade, IF she is able to furnish the articles desired, and of the 
opportunity of English workmen everywhere to regain their lost opportunities, 
IF they are able to do the work required. 

If England were today to utterly revise her educational system, it would 
be twenty-five years before the results of the new training were sufficient to 
enable her to overcome the commercial lead which Germany has made. In 
England, as a rule,- only those children are provided with adequate training 
for their life's work who have friends able to pay for it, or who, by the 
display of exceptional ability, are able to win one of the limited number of 
scholarships which make such an education possible. 

The German School System 

In Germany the entire school system was re-organized forty years ago. 
The classical and scholastic education was supplemented by the most carefully 
worked out system of technical and industrial education that exists in the 
world today. For a number of years many of the brightest minds in Germany 
have been turning to the problem of education, of industry and of commerce, 
although there is still too much thinking in the obsolete terms of monarchy 
and militarism. The best thought of that nation has been given to the prob- 
lem of training every individual to the maximum of his productive capacity. 

A magnificent system of higher technical schools was established years 
ago and the Directors of the leading schools were given by royal decree and 
by virtue of their educational position, seats in the Eeichstag. The most 



careful attention was given to the formulation and enactment of adequate 
school laws. Industrial training was gradually extended over the entire school 
system and the apprentices were little by little given an opportunity to sup- 
plement their shop training with school training. J ourneymen were provided 
with day and night courses. This entire portion of the school system was put 
on a practical basis. 

As a result of forty years of effort in this direction and of from ten to 
twenty years practical training of this kind the workmen of a number of 
cities in Germany, such as Diisseldorf, Crefeld, Bremen, Hamburg and Munich 
have furnished examples of united industrial ability such as the world has 
never known. As one of the many concrete instances, I desire to call your 
attention to a catalogue of a manufacturer of linoleum received from The 
Industrial Exposition at Cologne. It offers a superb example of team work 
between manufacturing chemist, desigrer, color artist and sales office. 

The German industrial system has as its very foundation three features 
in which it differs materially from what we have in America. They are: 

1. An elaborate and almost universal apprentice system. 

2. An emphasis upon and an exaltation of hand work, 

3. A tendency for a man to learn one trade; to learn that one tiale 
thoroughly and to have his children and even his grandchildren follow him 
in that trade. 

Training for Service 

It is impossible for any country to duplicate in a month the training 
which Germany has studiously built up for her workmen dining the last forty 
years. America is not without industrial irstitutions, but it is without that 
special quality of training which has m^^cle Germany an industrial success; 
namely, a definite, well thought out plan by which every citizen has developed 
his maximum capacity to serve his nation, his city and himself industrially. 

As was indicated before, there is one particular especially in which the 
German practice is clearly superior to our own. Our higher technical schools 
and our industrial high schools probably furnish training which will in time 
and in many ways equip the Ainerican pupil to meet the conditions of Ameri- 
can life almost if not quite as effectively as the German schools equip corre- 
sponding pupils to meet conditions in German life. The point at which they 
particularly excel us is in the training given to pupils from 14 to 18 years of 
age. Under the present law of Germany no child can be employed until he 
is fourteen years of age. If employed between the ages of 14 and 18 he must 
be given eight hours each week, in daylight, to attend school. Special schools 
and special courses are provided for these pupils. The manufacturers who 
employ children under these conditions are unanimous in the opinion that they 
secure enough better service to justify them for the loss of the pupil's shoj) 
time. 

In America many of these pupils leave school and go to work at the age 
of fourteen. The golden years of their lives are spent without receiving such 
a practical training as will make of them efficient workmen, or such theoretical 
training as will correct their defects. Generally speaking, their only oppor- 

• 



tunity for better school training at the present time is in the night schools. 
The Germans insist that it is an unfair strain on the will power of the youth 
of fourteen years of age to expect him to -work all day and to study at night, 
and that even if a small percentage of pupils did exercise this will power their 
health would necessiarily suffer. Their experience has shown conclusively, 
they claim, that the best interests of the nation, the city and the individual 
require that all pupils going to work at the age of fourteen be given at least 
eight hours each week in school in day light. 

The skilled work of the world cannot be done without training skilled 
workmen. It becomes more evident daily that a large number of the skilled 
workmen of every nation come from among those who are not greatly interested 
in purely theoielical book training during their early years. 

In Pennsylvaria the State grants to the young child and to the high school 
youth a fiee education and protects him against any effort of parent, manu- 
facturer or employer to deprive any child of his opportunity to secure this 
education. But, it has thus far failed to guarantee to the child who has to 
go to work his right to his equity in the public schools. 

The Remedy 

After investigation and study of all the reports bearing on the matter, I 
am convinced that if two comparatively simple things were added to the 
present plans for the Pittsburgh school system, we would lead the world in 
industrial training. They are as follows: 

1. Give the child who is obliged to go to work from 14 to 18 a whole 
chance, a fair opportunity to get his equity in the school system; to at- 
tend school a fair portion of each week in day light at such a type of 
school as would best fit him for the duties and privileges of his life. 

2. Provide at the same time a method by which the pupil who is in 
school regularly during these years shall have an opportunity to secure, 
along with his theoretical training, some of that practical training which 
can only be secured in work under actual commercial and shop conditions. 

In other words, add to the present SHOP TRAINING some proper 
SCHOOL TRAINING ard add to the present SCHOOL COURSES some 
PRACTICAL WORK in the SHOP. 

What Others Are Doing 

The foremost man in industrial education in Germany today is Dr. Georg 
Kerschersteirer, Director of the Public schools of Munich and a member of 
the Reichstag. His book, which has just been translated under the title ''The 
Schools and the Nation", is one of the most important contributions on the 
subject in print. In addition to copies of this book, I secured his complete 
program showing in detail how he has made instruction in the fifty-two trades 
which vitally affect the life of Munich a part of the Munich public school 
system. Of course, no attempt should be made to transplant a system bodily, 
regardless of the different American conditions. 



A prominent manufacturer in England, Mr. E. IT. Best, who has for some 
years been attempting to have his Birmingham works meet the competition 
of the German manufacturers, made a study of the reasons for his lack of 
greater success. He concluded that the English failure in active competition 
was due to the superior training and to the better conditions under which 
Germans operate. He has published two pamphlets, copies of which I also 
secured. In one of these he gives what he regards as the fundamental princi- 
ples underlying the industrial success of Munich and the other German cities, 
as well as the application of these principles which he deems suitable to 
English conditions. 

The New York Board of Public Education has been studying the problem 
for some time and Dr. Herman Schneider has published a report on the pro- 
posed Industrial system of education for the New York schools which is very 
suggestive and valuable. It contains a proposed application of the general 
principles to American conditions. In addition to the above there will soon l;o 
available the report of Mr. Haas, the Pittsburgh representative, together with 
the other American teachers sent to Munich to study the problem under the 
auspices of our Department of Education, 

I found reflected everywhere among the leading men of England the 
opinion that England must at once provide proper industrial training if she 
hopes to compete with Germany industrially, as well as a recognition of the 
fact that Mr. Best's suggestions were along right lires. 

My studies of the educational exhibit in the i^rilo-Amer.ican Exhibition 
at London, and of the German Industrial Exposition at Cologre served to con- 
firm the views I have here expressed. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion permit me to say that I am more than ever convinced that 
there is in this as in other school matters a special opportunity, as well as an 
obligation before Pittsburgh. This is the opportunity and the obligation of 
doing for America through Pittsburgh what Dr. Kerschensteiner has done for 
Germany through Munich, and what Mr. Best is planning to do for England 
through Birmingham — the Pittsburgh of England — namely; of giving work 
and adequate training for work its proper place in the educational system ard 
of giving the boy and the girl and the man and the woman who work what 
Dr. Kerschensteimer insists is an inalienable right — joy in their work and 
skill. 

It is pre-eminently our task here in Pittsburgh to find that solution of 
the problem of industrial education which is not only right for Pittsburgh but 
for America and the world; which really expresses the spirit of Pittsburgh, 
the spirit of earning and learning, of service and study. Fortunately, this 
Board possesses within its membership the particular experience and the skill 
necessary to solve the problem properly. As its President once said, it will 
prove equal to this emergency as it has to others. 

Eespectfully submitted, 

G. W. GERWIG, 

Secretary. 



REFERENCE BOOKS ON INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 

The following volumes, representing a carefully selected list of the more 
important publications on Industrial Education, have been secured and are 
on file in the office of the Secretary of The Board of Public Education of 
Pittsburgh : 

(1) "Report of the Eoyal Commission of Canada on Industrial Training 
and Technical Education." 

This report comprises four volumes, the result of an investigation 
covering three years, and gives authentic data on the industrial schools 
of every important city and country in the world. 

(2) **The Schools and the Nation." By Dr. Georg Kerschensteiner. 
(Macmillan and Company.) 

An English translation of probably the most important single work 
on Industrial Education that has appeared. May be read profitably by 
every student of the subject. 

(3) ''Organization and School Plan of the Trade and Continuation 
Schools of Munich." By Dr. Georg Kerschensteiner. (In German.) 

A complete and detailed ci'escription of the method by which instruc- 
tion in the fifty-two trades that vitally affect the life of Munich has been 
made a part of the Munich school system, and the general method by 
which this work is done in the various German cities. 

(4) ''The Problem of the Continuation School and Its Successful Solution 
in Germany." By R. H. Best. (P. S. King and Son, London.) 

Mr, Best is a prominent manufacturer of Birmingham, England. This 
pamphlet is his statement of what he regards as the fundamental princi- 
ples underlying industrial training in Germany, together with his sug- 
gestions as to the practical method of applying these principles to the 
conditions present in Birmingham and other English manufacturing cities. 
It is of special value in its suggestions of the lines to be followed in 
making an application suited to American conditions. 

(5) "Brass Workers of Berlin and of Birmingham— A Comparison." 
By R. H. Best. (P. S. King and Son, London.) 

This pamphlet will be found of great interest to American students 
and manufacturers. 

(6) "Vocational Education in Europe — Report to the Commercial Club 
of Chicago." By Edwin G. Cooley. (A. S. McClurg and Co., Chicago.) 

This is a complete report on the subject of Vocational Education made 
after ten months of careful study by the former Superintendent of the 
Chicago Public Schools. 

(7) "The Thinking Hand or Practical Education in the Elementary 
School." By J. G. Legge, Director of Education in the City of Liverpool. 
(Macmillan and Company.) 



A very complete report of what Liverpool is planning and doing. 

(8) ''Vocational Schools," By Dr. Herman Schneider. (School Effi- 
ciency Series, World Book Co., Yonkers, N. Y.) 

Dr. Schneider is connected with the University of Cincinnati, and has 
done some of the best work yet done in America on the problem of 
making a practical union between the theory of the schools and the practice 
of the shops. He is employed by the New York Board of Education as an 
expert to make recommendations for a system of industrial training for 
the New York City schools. This work and his work in the Cincinnati 
school system are of special value. 

(9) "Course of Study of the Continuation Schools of Diisseldorf . " 

(10) "Program of the Municipal Technical School and School of Com- 
merce, Birmingham, England." 

The following reports of perhaps lesser importance, but still of interest 
to students of the subject, are also on file: 

(1) "Prospectus of Evening Classes, Birmingham." 

(2) "Prospectus of Branch Technical Schools, Liverpool." 

(3) "Prospectus of Central Technical School, Liverpool." 

(4) "Prospectus of Collegiate School, Liverpool." 

(5) "Prospectus of School of Art, Liverpool." 

(6) "Prospectus of Nautical College, Liverpool. " 



REPRINTED FROM MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF PUBLIC EDUCATION, SEPTEMBER 22. I9|4 



